Excerpted with permission from Being in Balance

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird sleeps in the egg; and in the highest vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities…”

James Allen

Restoring The Balance

The
objective of this principle is to create a balance between dreams and
habits. The least complicated way to begin is to recognize the signs of
habitual ways of being, and then learn to shift your thinking to being
in balance with your dreams. So what are your dreams? What is it that
lives within you that’s never gone away? What inner night-light
continues to glow, even if it’s only a glimmer in your thoughts and
dreams? Whatever it is, however absurd it may seem to others, if you
want to restore the balance between your dreams and your habits, you
need to make a shift in the energy that you’re contributing to your
dream. If you’re out of balance, it’s primarily because you’ve
energetically allowed your habits to define your life. Those habits, and
the consequences thereof, are the result of the energy you’ve given
them.

In the early
stages of the rebalancing process, concentrate on this awareness: You
get what you think about, whether you want it or not. Commit to thinking
about what you want, rather than how impossible or difficult that dream
may seem. Give your personal dreams a place to hang out on the balance
scale so that you can see them in your imagination and they can soak up
the energy they deserve. Thoughts are mental energy; they’re the
currency that you have to attract what you desire.

You
must learn to stop spending that currency on thoughts you don’t want,
even though you may feel compelled to continue your habitual behavior.
Your body might continue, for a while, to stay where it’s been trained
to be, but meanwhile, thoughts are being aligned with your dreams. The
esteemed 19th - century writer Louisa May Alcott phrases this idea in an
encouraging and inspiring manner:

Far
away in the sunshine are My highest inspirations. I may not reach them,
But I can look up and see the beauty, Believe in them and try to Follow
where they lead… Choosing to restore a semblance of balance between
your dreams and your habits seems possible with Ms. Alcott’s phrase in
mind: “Look up and see” and “Believe in them.” The words bring to life
an energetic alignment. Rather than putting your thoughts on what is, or
what you’ve habitually thought for a lifetime, you shift to looking up
and seeing, and firmly believing in what you see. When you begin to
think in this manner, the Universe conspires to work with you, and send
you precisely what you’re thinking and believing. It doesn’t always
happen instantaneously, but once the realignment is initiated in your
thoughts, you’ve begun being in balance.